Bipolar semiconductor switches, such as IGBTs and thyristors, may be made of wide-bandgap materials, such as silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN), and/or diamond, among others. Such devices are used for power conversion and management applications, such as inverters (e.g., for grid-tied renewable energy such as photovoltaic arrays), high-voltage direct current transmission, and motor drives for traction and propulsion, to name but a few.